KakaSaku: Endure and Survive
by serenity-touched
Summary: Nothing will ever be the same. A series of snippets inspired from The Last of Us. KakaSaku.
1. Prelude

**KakaSaku: Endure and Survive  
**

_\- Prelude -  
_

Startled awake from hearing a loud clack, Sakura bolted up from her bed to find that her window had been forced open. Grabbing a shuriken that was lying on her nightstand, her body relaxed when she saw a familiar silhouette in the moonlit shadows.

"Kakashi?" she hesitantly spoke aloud.

Squinting her green eyes as he flicked on the lights in her room, she let out a sleepy yawn before asking why he was barging inside her apartment at this hour, but then fell silent at seeing a large amount of blood stained across his clothes.

Immediately getting up from her bed in fear that he was seriously hurt, he held up a hand to stop her before she could touch him. "It's not mine," he evenly murmured. "I'm okay."

His hand slowly melted to his side as he looked in concern towards the window as a light breeze shifted the curtains. After a moment he seemed to relax, but looked towards the floor in deep thought.

Interlacing her fingers together, Sakura didn't feel any easier from the faint grim look etched across his partially masked face. He seemed more despondent than his usual self.

"Kakashi, what happened?" she softly asked.

Shaking his head from his lingering thoughts, he finally looked up to her and replied, "Sorry, we really don't have time. Get dressed and grab your gear. We need to leave the village as soon as possible."

"But-"

"Sakura," he sharply cut in. His lone eye softened in regret at his harsh tone. "Please trust me on this."

Taken aback at first, she knew something must be terribly wrong given how usually calm and collected he was even in a battle. Staring at the deep crimson across his hands and flak jacket, her mind rushed to thoughts of what could have happened. Had they been attacked? Was the entire village evacuating right now? It was unlike him not to discuss the situation. Noticing that he was staring at her, she realized that he was waiting for her to confirm that she was coming. Despite all the questions she had, she did trust him with her life. Their years together as teammates proved that much.

Once she nodded, he left the room. She got dressed as fast as she could but froze when she heard a distant scream outside. Running to the window, she poked her head out and gasped at seeing a large fire in the distance between several buildings. In the center of it was the Hokage Tower. Dread washed over her.

Running out into the living room, she found Kakashi quickly searching through her kitchen's cabinets. "Kakashi, the tower's on fire!" she blurted out.

Looking down into his bag for a moment, he hummed. "I know. I was just there."

"Why didn't you tell me? We need to go help! It's out of control."

"It's too late for that," he faintly replied. Lifting up his backpack around his shoulders, he headed towards the door and motioned her to follow. "Sakura, we need to leave."

Stunned, her heart sank as she couldn't believe the lack of concerned words out of his mouth. This man always put duty and the village before anything else. How could he want to abandon the very people they were sworn to protect? It didn't make any sense. What the hell was going on?

Hearing more screams in the distance, she grumbled and ran back into her room to grab her bag that she usually took on missions. Jumping out of her window, she landed on her balcony's railing before ascending towards the rooftop. Already making up her mind, she headed in the direction of the blaze hoping to not just help, but find answers. But before she had a chance to get too far, she had been strongly grabbed back by her arm.

"Sakura," Kakashi pleaded. "Please just trust me. There isn't anything we can do."

Yanking her hand away, she took a step back and looked hurt. "Look, I don't understand what's going on but I'm not a coward," she spat. "I can't just look the other way when people's lives are endangered. Not only am I a medic, but that's not what a shinobi does, or have you forgotten, Sensei?"

Running back towards the tower from rooftop to rooftop, she ignored his desperate warnings for her to stop. Hurt welled up inside her heart with each step she took, feeling betrayed and let down by the one person she cared for more than she wanted to admit. Increasing her speed, the closer she came towards the fires, the louder the screams were. Dropping down into the pebbled streets, she could see people were frantically running up ahead. Quickly moving towards them, her steps cautiously slowed until she realized what was happening before her.

Tears immediately stung her eyes and her stomach twisted as she stood in horror. People were tearing each other apart with just their bare teeth and hands, devouring all that they could. Blood filled the streets wherever she looked. Once the smell of death hit her senses, she held a hand against her mouth and nearly retched.

Never in her life had she ever seen something like this. As a shinobi she had seen her fair share of death, even more so as a medic, but nothing like this.

Nothing.

Women, children, men… Jouin and other shinobi alike. Some were people that she knew and had talked to not even a day before, but everyone seemed to have all lost their damn minds. Those who were being attacked and caught screamed in gut wrenching terror as they watched themselves being eaten alive and torn apart. It wasn't long before they fell quiet once they took their last breath.

Feeling light headed, Sakura knelt down towards the ground and steadied her breath. Her body shook and she couldn't understand why she couldn't stop. Feeling something grab her back, Sakura twisted around and stumbled backwards as a man with strange veined skin and white eyes rushed forward tried to pull her by the neck of her shirt. He strained to bite at her skin before she summoned the chakra to punch him back into an empty market stand.

The loud commotion immediately trigged the surrounding people to run towards her in an instant. Frantically rising to her feet, she slipped once before heading into an amber glowing alleyway. A strong heat washed over her as she passed tall flames of the buildings around her. Jumping to the top of a building that was still clear, she turned in surprise to find that several people were still chasing after her even up on the rooftops.

Kicking several of them down to the streets below, she raised her hand to punch the next but froze. Yellow hair and grayed over dull blue eyes met her gaze.

"N-Naruto?" her voice cracked in disbelief.

Fear shot through her veins as he grabbed her throat with an icy touch, throwing her backwards towards roof. The tiles around them cracked and broke apart which caused them both to slide and fall towards the earth below. Landing hard on her back, Sakura had lost her breath for a moment as she failed to summon to strength to hold him back.

A sound of what seemed like a thousand birds rang through the air, followed by a bright light which appeared through Naruto's chest. In an instant, he became lifeless and fell beside her with a thud. His eyes remained opened, staring off into the deep night's sky above. The fear she had felt quickly was replaced with anguish.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she blinked. Her breath hitched as her throat burned. Looking up to Kakashi who kneeled beside her, he placed a shaken hand over the boy's eyes and closed them.

"I-I'm sorry… I'm really sorry," Kakashi strained out.

Everything was a blur as people began to drop down beside them and come from the back alleyway. Pulling her into his arms without sparing another moment, Kakashi leapt with all his strength fast as he could across the village and over the gates.

Eventually she asked to be let down, wanting to walk on her feet and not burden him anymore than she already had. The pair ran through the dark forest, taking cover within the trees and didn't stop to rest until hours later once dawn greeted them. Finding a large tree with wooden boarding encircling the thick trunk, the area was most likely used as an old wildlife lookout spot. Taking opposite sides of the tree, they hadn't spoken a word since they had fled the village.

Staring at her feet as she dangled them over the edge, the happy chirps of birds stirring awake made her feel empty inside. She still couldn't believe it. Her best friend was dead along with countless others. While she still didn't understand why or how, what she hoped for most was that she would just wake up from this never ending nightmare. But as the sun continued to spread over the horizon, the warmth of its rays reached her skin. The longer she sat there and listened to the faint rustling wind around them, the more reality set in.

This was real.

Glancing quietly back to Kakashi around the trunk of the tree, he seemed to be staring at his hands which were still dirtied with dry blood. After a long moment, he buried himself within his arms over his knees. Seeing him begin to slightly shake, she moved on her knees and sat beside him in concern.

Placing a gentle hand on his back, she said, "Kakashi…?"

He wouldn't look at her.

"…K-Kakashi."

After a long silence he finally picked up his head, but continued to look away into the distant forest as the sun rose over the horizon. Moving slightly closer, she could tell the side of his face above his mask seemed drained with color. Attempting to speak, he choked on his words before placing the back of hand over his eyes, weakly clenching his fist. His covered lips broke into a muffled sob.

Sakura didn't think her heart could manage breaking anymore than it already had in a matter of hours, but it did in that very moment. Reaching her arms around him, she hugged his back as she cried with him. She didn't have any idea where they would go from here, but they needed to find a way to keep surviving.

Together.

_TBC_

* * *

[ **Author Note:** Awhile back I had an Anon request from Tumblr to do a Last of Us inspired drabble which the above is the result of that (this chapter is also posted in A Pocket of Drabbles). But after thinking about it more, I really loved the idea of writing little snippets of basically what a Naruto apocalyptic world might be like run with ninja zombies. I wanted to do something that's not really a full multi-chapter story although everything will tie together as days pass, but I wanted to just do small moments of a day with time skipping.

A lot of this is inspired by the video game which is one of my favorites of all time, but this won't be a crossover as it's more just inspired. I may use same ideas or even same situations, so just a warning there if you haven't played the game!

Also warning that there will be lots of character death (**Trust me when I say no one is safe. **_**No one is safe**_**.**), possible sexual situations, gore and probably sad and depressing stuff.

I won't be posting any other WARNINGS after this, so please take note the risk to read any future chapter snippet things. None of this will be edited as I post like my drabbles, so there will be mistakes.

There will be an ending, but I'll be casually posting here and there.

Comments and feedback are always appreciated and I'd love to hear any ideas yall might have as I go along. And as always, thanks for taking the time to read my silly things~ ]


	2. Day 1

**Day 1  
**

The morning's sun steadily began to rise behind their backs as the bellowing smoke of their village was becoming a speck in the distance. They had stopped only for a little while after their earlier breakdown into tears. Kakashi was now as silent as ever, but did murmur a quiet thank you before they set off to travel once again.

Sakura felt almost hallow as her steps crunched lightly along the forest's floor, her eyes still slightly red and puffy from her previous crying against Kakashi's shoulder. Just thinking about everything and everyone who they've lost, she still didn't understand what had happened or how to even make sense of it all. Still, she hoped that more people made it out alive. Right now the thought of finding her friends and family again was the only thing that was keeping her going. She had to believe it. They couldn't be the only ones alive.

"Will we ever go back?" she accidentally asked aloud. Hesitantly glancing to Kakashi as he walked beside her lost within his own thoughts, she wasn't sure if he would respond. A lot has happened in the last few hours and she didn't want to press him for conversation just yet. They were both mentally and physically drained as is it without trying to make small talk.

"At some point perhaps," Kakashi replied faintly. "Not anytime soon."

Part of her wondered if there was anything they could have done to try and help save their village. She was there and had almost got killed, but… she just didn't know. Everything happened so fast.

As silence stretched between them, her thoughts shifted to where they were going. All she could gather right now was that they were heading west. "Where are we heading to now?" she murmured aloud. "If you don't mind me asking…"

Adjusting the heavy straps of his pack as they stepped over a few fallen trees in their path, he admitted, "I wasn't sure at first after last night, but after thinking about it more, I think heading to the Hidden Sand Village would be best for now. The Kazekage has always been a friend of Konoha's and…" His voice faded for a moment. "…Naruto. It's likely other people from our village might seek refuge there as well."

Nodding in agreement, she said, "Sounds as good as any plan to me. I really hope we'll find other people from Konoha there."

"Me too…"

Although the longer they walked without running into another soul, the more worried she became in wondering if that would really be the case. But she had to keep hoping.

It was a little past noon before they stopped to rest again, this time at the edge of a moderately sized lake that they happened to come across. Kakashi had asked if she wanted to rinse off first, but she politely declined, wanting him to go before since he was covered with a lot more dry blood than her. A lot of it was Naruto's… and she knew he took it especially hard of what he had to do. She couldn't blame him. Part of her felt guilty he was forced to just for her sake. She inwardly sighed as she stared down towards the long blades of grass that were tucked beneath her feet where she sat. She always was the one who needed saving, wasn't she? Sometimes she couldn't understand how she seemed to have accomplished so much after years of training and experience in the 4th war, yet nothing at the same time. She wasn't even sure if she could have the same courage to kill the same boy who had a crush on her for most of her life growing up. Hell, she couldn't even kill Sasuke when she had decided to do it for everyone's sake. Lowering head with an inaudible sigh to her knees, she shook her head. Kakashi even had to save her then.

Even thinking about it now, it was hard to believe that Naruto was gone. He had saved them so many times, but why was it that when it mattered the most, she couldn't help him or anyone else? Everything he had built up to this moment was gone. People looked up to him for hope as not just a hero, but as person… and now he was dead. It was hard to describe in words just how much his loss hurt.

Hearing the rustle of clothing snapped her back from her thoughts. Her cheeks reddened slightly as she listened to Kakashi undress as she sat with her back towards him and the water. This was probably the closest she's ever been when he was bathing. It wasn't often during their missions as Team Seven that they would wash somewhere unless it was a long trip, but when they did their main camp was always far away for privacy sake. Not wanting to take their chances in something happening to either them, they had decided to keep close for now, not that she minded at all.

Listening to him slosh into the water with a string of small curses how cold it was before he jumped in, she smiled slightly at imagining him saying all that naked with his lone mask on. Of course it would be silly if he was still wearing it, but it made her inwardly laugh that he would. That's all she's ever known of the man was to wear it every single day come rain or shine. Also just imagining him completely naked was a thought she didn't want to dwell on for a lot of inappropriate reasons, but maybe someday she could find the nerve to sneak a peek for curiosity sake. For his maskless face… of course.

When it was her turn to wash up after he redressed into new change of clothes he had brought in his pack, they switched positions at the lake's grassy shore. Once his back was turned, she quickly unzipped and wiggled off her clothes before jumping in the lake with a small splash. The icy water made her shiver at first before getting used to the temperature. Using a bar of soap she had kept in her backpack for missions, she tried to quickly wash off the mix of sweat, dirt and blood as fast as she could so they wouldn't delay much longer here than necessary.

Once she was finished, she began to swim back to the shore, but heard strange commotion of cracked wood snapping through the forest only a few feet away. A group of startled birds suddenly flew away at the top of the trees towards the sun.

"Kakashi?" she worriedly hushed out as she quietly swam closer.

"Stay there," he said as he rose to his feet with a kunai in hand.

Wanting to help, the only thing that was making her stay put in the water was for her own dignity as he walked past where she was swimming, but she readied herself to spring to her weapons if needed no matter if she was naked or not.

She watched as he silently moved towards the forest's edge and then gasped as a pale woman lunged forward from the trees towards him. He flipped backwards and struck a blow to her head with his dagger and twisted it, causing her to instantly drop to the ground with a hard thud. The woman's strange features appeared to be the same as the people they encountered back at the village who tried to viciously attack and eat other people. She wasn't sure what to call them just yet… but they certainly seemed inhuman.

More pale faced bodies suddenly burst out of the trees and towards Kakashi, desperately trying to claw and bite at his arms as he spun and kicked a few away. Setting a few on fire with a ninjutsu, it didn't stop them for long as they rushed toward him again even engulfed in flames.

When he was suddenly pushed to the ground from being overwhelmed as they pressed together around him, she immediately ran out of the lake and grabbed a few kunai laid out by her bag, whizzing them into the creatures that tried to take hold of his arms. Wrapping a loose towel around her chest in mid-run that barely covered her thighs, she tried to ignore the sting of embarrassment from being so barely clad as it is while she kicked and punched the rest of them that charged towards them. The ones that were tossed back immediately sprung up after them again and again. It seemed endless.

Feeling a cold clammy hand suddenly grab her ankle, she screamed in surprise to find a bloodied man at her feet. Kakashi pulled her back by the shoulder after stomping on the ridged fingers to let go. Only moments earlier had she punched the same man with all her charka strength through the chest. He had fallen to the ground like he had died, but now struggled to move towards her even without a heart… or a hand.

"I-I don't understand how they can still keep moving even after you take out their heart?" she asked, unsure if there was a sure way to kill them or not. Also not sensing any charka besides Kakashi's, she wondered if they were even alive at all. But the woman he had pierced a dagger through her skull earlier still remained lifeless on the ground. "Unless it's only their heads?" she added.

She immediately thought of what that meant for Naruto. There was a flash of concern in Kakashi's eyes as she figured he was thinking about the same thing. He had only punctured Naruto's chest before they fled… was he still half alive? It almost seemed more horrible than death forever being turned into whatever these people were.

Sakura and Kakashi faced back to back and continued to attack as more sprang from the forest in groups. They were slowly becoming more surrounded no matter how fast they tried to defend their ground. Struggling to keep up, it was becoming too much for them to handle at once. They were going to die unless they did something, and fast.

Kakashi lightly pulled at her arm, "Run to the water! Forget your things, we'll come back later."

Nodding, she threw a hard punch below which cracked the earth's soil and several surrounding trees to buy them more precious time to run. They both hurried towards the lake and jumped into the water. Fighting to hold her towel as she swam, the creatures began to chase after them into the lake. She was really scared that they weren't going to make it. They could outrun some on land, but not those who appeared to be former shinobi.

When they were a little past half way swimming across the lake, Kakashi held her shoulder. "Wait… I don't think they can swim."

She turned back and watched as they mindlessly appeared to be sinking into the water as soon as they were completely immersed in trying to follow after them. Would they really drown? Or only stay half alive at the bottom of the lake until they reached a shallow edge? Either way, it was a creepy thought that there could be hundreds of those things at the bottom of the water.

Finally reaching the other side, they sat at the edge of the lake as the last few chasing them went into the water and never reappeared. Everything was just as still and quiet like it was only a few minutes ago before they were interrupted. Never did she think such peaceful silence could ever feel so unsettling.

Shivering from a passing cold breeze, Kakashi was looking cold as well completely soaked in his clothes. He slowly sat up, wringing out some of the water from his shirt and then offered her a hand to help her rise to her feet. Seeing him awkwardly turn away to look in any direction but hers, her never ending embarrassment returned again from realizing the way the clinging wet towel wasn't exactly leaving much to the imagination.

They quietly made their way back around the lake before preparing to head west once more towards The Land of Wind. She had a feeling this was going to be a long journey.

_TBC_


	3. Day 2

**Day 2**

Kakashi nearly slipped from a branch as he and Sakura flew through the tops of the trees at a record speed. Slowing down, he sighed knowing it was only a matter of time before he fell flat on his face if he kept pushing himself this hard. Rubbing the sweat away from his eyes, he felt so tired, but couldn't manage to sleep longer than a few minutes at a time so far.

Glancing to Sakura who offered him a weary look, he was sure she didn't sleep much either. Making camp in a small open area of the forest last night, all they heard until dawn was faint screams in different directions within the surrounding darkness. At first they had both jumped up in concern, but soon realized they would have a hard time finding anyone in the pitch black forest. And then even if they went, there was no telling who or what they might find. They could end up getting killed like they almost did at the lake yesterday.

He felt like he was slowing losing himself in an unspoken crippling fear that they weren't going to survive this, or rather more importantly he was more terrified at the fact he would fail to protect Sakura… just like all the rest of the people he cared for in his life. No matter how hard he tried to hang on, everyone lives intertwined with his always seemed to slip past his fingers like sand, and it always seemed to be his fault each time. He wasn't sure how much more heartbreak he could endure and he's had enough of it to last for two lifetimes if not more. After Naruto, he just didn't think he could handle anymore at this point. He just can't…

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura called out.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked up as they jumped from tree top to tree top that there was a small village in the distance. He wasn't sure if they should travel through, but they needed to at least know if this place had met the same fate as Konoha. He hoped that it wasn't the case, but once they slowed to a stop and dropped to the ground, his hopes were gone as soon as they saw several mangled bodies littered across the road towards the empty entrance.

He sighed. "We should probably just go around."

"What if there are still some people who are alive?" Sakura faintly asked. "It's a small place… and it seems quiet. Would it hurt to look?"

"It might," he replied. "I don't know if it's a good idea."

"Wait," she suddenly spoke up, squinting her green eyes as she peered around a tree for a better view. "Is… is that…?"

Seeing a couple of figures walking across the top of a house, he strained to look before recognizing a familiar uniform. "I don't believe it," he rasped.

Sakura had already sprinted towards the village's entrance before he could manage to say anything more. "Sakura! W-Wait!"

Chasing after her, they both ran until they were at the base of a wooden building where they had spotted two shinobi just moments before. Sakura called out for them to wait as she ran up along the side with chakra infused feet. Kakashi continued to follow until they were on the rooftop and face to face with two surprised fellow Jounins from Konoha.

"Shikamaru?" Sakura uttered in disbelief, unable to hold back her excitement as she pulled the shadow user into a hug. He nearly choked on his lit cigarette, but hugged her back while offering a wave to Kakashi. Once she stepped back, she gave another hug but this time to Choji who began to turn a bright red. "Choji," she murmured with a sad smile as she looked the pair. "It's good to see you both."

"I'm glad you both made it out," Shikamaru genuinely said, taking one last huff of his cigarette before flicking it towards the pebbled dirt below. "We've seen a few scattered groups of people from Konoha traveling more North from here."

"We haven't managed to see anyone else but you guys," Kakashi said as he placed his hands within his pockets. Glancing to Sakura, he added, "I think… we were starting to worry."

"There are two more villages towards the coast from here I wondered if they had been infected as well, but it's hard to know for certain." He turned his head, sighing as he placed his hands behind his neck. "If this place didn't make it then I have my doubts for the others."

"Is mostly everyone heading to Suna?" Sakura asked.

"I believe so," he replied. "Though I've been trying to send messages to Tamari and haven't heard anything back yet. So I'm a little worried they could have met the same fate as the rest of us, but the village is isolated in the desert. I'd hope they would have managed to miss whatever kind of virus this is… but I'm not entirely sure where it hit first."

"A virus… so this really isn't some kind of strange Jutsu?" she added.

"It could be for all I know, but something so wide scale… this is like an epidemic."

"Whatever the case, I hope we can figure out how to stop this before it's too late."

Shikamaru sighed. "Yeah… you and me both."

Choji remained despondent although he seemed to be listening to the conversation. Kakashi glanced between the young men, noticing they both looked like they had been to hell and back. He knew Shikamaru had seen the start of all this before everything fell apart. They were briefly together after Tsunade had summoned them to discuss the situation with a few other Jounin at the last minute. Several groups of Anbu had gone missing several hours earlier who had responded to the initial breech outside their walls. A few wounded were recovered and placed in the ICU at the hospital which Tsunade personally attempted to treat them, but it was too late. Before they even realized what was happening they were already lost. Little did anyone know exactly how many people would get infected in just a matter of hours without intervention. If they had any idea… they would have evacuated everyone long before, but it was too late.

"Were you both looking for survivors here?" Kakashi asked, knowing Sakura was pretty concerned.

"We could help search too," Sakura added.

"Yeah, we were," Shikamaru replied. Glancing to Choji who looked a little pale, he said, "If there was anyone… they are long gone by now. So I think we should head out to Suna and hope we find something left standing."

The silvered haired Jounin nodded. "Let's go then. We won't have much light left to travel if we wait too long."

As they jumped across the rooftops, he noticed a few of the house's doors they past were wide open. The moment he saw a few bodies of children laid out in the front with flowers he had to force himself to look away. It wasn't fair and it wasn't right for anyone to have to die so young. Nothing in this world could ever make any sense to him why innocent people had to die before even given a chance at life.

The land's lush green was slowly fading into colors of gold and brown as the trees of the forest were becoming sparser. They still had about one more day of travel before they would reach the Hidden Sand Village. Making camp at the top of a rocky cliff that overlooked the horizon, Kakashi sat with his feet dangling over the edge. Overhearing Sakura's solemn conversation with Shikamaru about Naruto, she had asked if he knew what happened to Tsunade or Ino.

"We couldn't find Ino… and as for Tsunade, I'm kind of surprised Kakashi hadn't told you yet…" he hesitantly replied.

Feeling their eyes at his back, Kakashi inwardly sighed as he stared down at the closed book in his hands. Idling flipping at its worn pages, he couldn't find the heart to read it even if he wanted to.

"What do you mean?" she asked in confusion.

"…She had turned into… into one of them along with Shizune. By the time anyone found out, most of the people in the tower were already gone. Then someone had the bright idea to set fire to the building along with everyone who wasn't infected still inside. Kakashi and I barely made it out alive."

The silence after that was a long one.

Placing his book down beside him, Kakashi began to flick small pebbles towards the bottom of the cliff as his chest felt heavy with grief. Tears blurred his vision as he tried to desperately forget watching one of his few best friends be burned alive right before his eyes. If Shikamaru hadn't pulled him away at the last moment, he probably would have let himself stay there as one of the floors collapsed. It was only then after he took a breath did he remember Sakura had no idea what was happening.

But the guilt he felt weighed down on him so much it was like he could barely breathe. Why was he always the one being left behind? Why couldn't he ever do fucking more? Why did everyone in his life have to die? He knew it was a matter of time before he would lose Sakura, too. All he knew right now was that he didn't want to live to see that day.

_TBC_


	4. Day 3

**Day 3  
**

Moonlight glistened against the vast silhouetted hills of sand dunes as they traveled almost nonstop to reach Suna by nightfall. Seeing a distant glow of lights, they knew they were finally getting close to the Hidden Sand Village. No one would voice the quiet worry that they would find nothing but destruction and chaos like they had already seen in the past two days, but what they had found was something entirely different.

Approaching a large crowd surrounding the front gates of the village, everyone glanced at each other in concern as they approached the outer edge of what looked like many other refugees. A lot of people were already camped for the night while others were standing near the gates and talking in what sounded like a heated debate.

Kakashi slowly stepped forward towards the thick of the crowd, peering over a few heads to find several shinobi at the front standing their ground while pushing a few people back who tried to enter inside.

"I've told you all, no one is allowed to enter the village at this time. There simply isn't enough room," one of the older looking Jounins said.

"My husband and children are inside! Why can't I go to my family?" a woman shouted in grief. "Suna is my home!"

"I'm sorry, but no one is allowed to enter," he simply replied. "No exceptions."

Other people began to shout how they didn't have the right to deny them going home or letting them find refuge.

"Why isn't the Kazekage doing anything? Why is he leaving us out here to die?" a man yelled.

Kakashi bit the inside of his cheek at the display. This was bad. There were already several hundred people if not more out here. The Hidden Sand wasn't a small village by any means. Did they really not have enough room to handle more people? What was going on inside?

Looking to Sakura, Shikamaru and Choji who had followed behind him through the crowd, he sighed as he scratched the back of his neck. "I'm not sure what this means for us," he murmured. "We might have to head back east to even have a chance to survive. We can't last long out here in a desert. We'll be out of water soon."

"And neither can they," Sakura worriedly said as the glanced over the people around them. "If we could at least talk to Lord Gaara, maybe we can figure out a way to help everyone. He's not a heartless person… he would want to help these people."

"I think so, too," Shikamaru agreed. "I'm not sure why Tamari never replied to any of my messages, but there must be a reason. They may not be letting people inside, but I don't see anyone coming out either."

Nodding, Kakashi sighed as he looked towards the front. "Let's try and speak to them."

Making their way through the restless crowd and small makeshift campfires, they edged their way towards the frontline.

"Excuse me," Kakashi called out to one of the guards.

"There is no room," the man barked.

"We need to just speak to Lord Gaara. He doesn't have to let us stay, but we just want to talk."

"You and everyone else."

"We're from Konoha," Shikamaru spoke up. "We bring news about our Lady Hokage. We're her advisors."

"No one is speaking with Lord Gaara. I don't give a damn who you are. No one is to pass."

Sighing, Kakashi motioned for them to let it go for now and led their way back to the outer edge of several camps. Picking a spot that was dimly lit by a small family's camp fire, everyone sat in a semicircle against the cool sand.

"I have a bad feeling," Sakura murmured. "What if Gaara is in trouble?"

"Someone else could be running the inside for all we know," Shikamaru added. "I'm not sure how fast this virus has spread before it hit us, but perhaps they are trying to contain it."

"I'm really hoping for the latter," Kakashi said as he leaned back, glancing up at the large moon hovering above the massive crater that held the village from within. "We should check out the outer perimeter tomorrow. Maybe we can find a weak point to slip inside."

"If the guards stationed at the wall are there as they should be, we'll be easily spotted unless we do it at night."

"Let's press the guards and see if we can somehow get a message to Gaara. If not, then I think we should try it." Sakura said.

Everyone nodded at the plan except Choji who seemed to be lost in thought. Shikamaru gently nudged his friend's arm. "Choji?"

"S-Sorry," he stammered. "I guess I'm just a bit tired."

"Let's get some sleep then," Kakashi suggested.

Once everyone prepared their bedrolls, Sakura slipped inside hers which was next to Kakashi's. Hearing Shikamaru softly speak to Choji about something a few feet behind them, she glanced to her former sensei who seemed to be staring at the stars above. When his gaze fell to hers, she offered a pressed smile before fidgeting with the comforter pulled around her.

He looked like he wanted to say something, but remained quiet before he looked back towards the towering black sky. Finding herself also at a loss of words of what to say, she snuggled more into her roll and faintly said, "Goodnight, Kakashi."

"Goodnight, Sakura," he whispered back.

_TBC_

* * *

[ **Author Note:**_ *cue melancholy The Last of Us music*_

I've been meaning to post this, but got swept away into KakaSaku V-Day tumblr week. (which I highly suggest you check out some of the sweet fics and art people made) ]


	5. Day 4

**Day 4**

Sakura's eyes adjusted against the stark darkness as she stirred awake from her light slumber. Taking in a sleepy breath, she rubbed her eyes before noticing the empty bedroll across from her. Slowly sitting up, she glanced around in concern finding no sign of Kakashi except an empty pair of shoes. Looking to the surrounding camps with low flickering fires, most people were still asleep at this late hour.

Pulling on her boots, she stood up and quietly stepped past people who were still sleeping. Those who were awake would cast her a wary look before shifting back to their own troubled thoughts.

It wasn't hard to see some of fear etched across people's faces. Some had hope, some had loss. Others appeared like there was nothing left in this world worth clinging to. Her steps slowed as she saw a mother comforting her young son, whispering to calm his tears and telling him to be brave for his little sister.

Her heart clenched.

It felt like The Fourth War all over again, but far worse. The peace they had worked so hard to bring between nations was becoming undone by a new unknown fear no one could quite understand. At least they knew who their enemies were during the war… but this was some kind of disease that they couldn't see. It was hard to fight what you couldn't touch. With a solemn sigh, she vowed she would try and find a way to help cure whatever this was. She had witnessed small isolated epidemics before in small villages throughout the years, but never anything quite like this. Not even in her extensive medical studies under Tsunade had she ever heard of anything like this before, but there had to be a way. This couldn't be the end of humanity.

Making her way towards the outer edge of camps, she saw a lone sitting slouching figure in the distance on top of a sand dune. Letting out small a sigh of relief, Sakura slowly approached as her feet sunk into the sand with each climbing step.

Kakashi's slouch became less prominent as she sat beside him. Offering a sympathetic glance, she asked, "Can't sleep?"

"I managed some," he replied with a small shrug. "You should go get some more rest. Sun won't be up until another hour."

She smiled slightly. "Same can be said for you."

He hummed in response as he watched her take off her shoes and turn over each boot to dump out the built up sand from within. Kakashi chuckled after a moment, revealing his hidden bare toes buried beneath the cool sand. "This is why I left my shoes."

Sakura sighed, shooting him a playful glare. "Next time I hike up a sand dune, I'll do just that."

Rubbing the bottom of his masked chin, he hummed in thought after a moment of silence. "That reminds me when I visited Suna for the first time…"

Intrigued since he rarely talked about his past, Sakura patiently waited for him to continue. After a minute of silence, she narrowed her eyes. "And… what happened?"

He nonchalantly shrugged. "I had sand in my shoes, so… I took them off."

Realizing he was simply teasing her from his drawn out responses, she sighed. "And…?"

"And…" He glanced away, sheepishly scratching the back of his silver hair. "I might have stumbled over in the process and rolled down a 200 foot sand dune."

She fought back a burst of laugher. "No way, really?"

"Afraid so," he confirmed, smiling slightly as he idly ran a finger through the sand. "My... teammates found it pretty hilarious to say the least… and everyone else in Konoha once they heard."

The humor she felt swell within quickly fell at the mention of his team. Days after the war had finally ended, Kakashi had explained who exactly Obito was to her one night after perhaps one too many drinks. He didn't share all of his regrets, but knew several things weighed down on him deeply for most of his life.

"Trust me, I kind of deserved their ridicule," he added, noticing the sudden heavy silence. "I was kind of a prick back then."

Sakura raised a brow at that statement. "I can't see you acting like that."

Hiding a sad smile, he replied, "People change."

Kakashi and Sakura small talked a little while longer as they waited for the sun to rise. Once the sun had peeked in the horizon, they went back to camp and prepared for the long day ahead. Sakura spent most of the morning tending to various strangers who needed medical attention around the camps. Kakashi, Shikamaru and Choji worked on trying to get more information from the guards blocking the entrance gate, but with little success. Talking to some of the actual citizen's who were forced to stay outside the Hidden Sand Village's walls along with the increasing number of refugees, everyone seemed to be completely at a loss what was going on inside.

Deciding to go through with their plan of infiltrating the village once night fell, no one was really quite sure what they would find on the other side of the walls, but hoped to find some answers.

Hiding in the shadows of the towering moonlit rocky and sand covered walls that surrounded the village, they took their time climbing with chakra infused feet until they reached the very top. Sitting along the edge that overlooked the Hidden Sand Village, there were lights strictly in one section of the town.

"Something's definitely not right," Kakashi murmured as he looked through a pair of binoculars. Handing it to Shikamaru next to look through, he added, "The Kazekage buildings seem fine… at least from here."

"The inside is probably a different story," Shikamaru muttered with a troubled sigh. "We'll have to take a closer look to get a better idea."

Looking down the tall cliff which faced into one of the blacked out sections of the village, Sakura said, "Well, let's see what we can find out."

"_Sakura_," Kakashi called out as he watched her hastily slide down first. He inwardly sighed as he followed after.

Once everyone reached the bottom, Kakashi glanced around the empty moonlit streets. Pressing a finger to his masked lips for everyone to keep quiet, he motioned that he would take point going forward.

There was an uncomfortable silence as they passed by several abandoned shops, houses and apartments which all appeared to be boarded up. Climbing up towards the rooftops, they still had quite a ways to go until they reached the only illuminated section of the village. Finding no guards or people as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop, it was hard to understand how over half of the village could have completely disappeared without a trace.

Stopping near the roof's edge of a building complex, everyone glanced between one another with a feeling that they were suddenly being watched. Looking towards the ground, at first all the paths looked simply dark due to the long silhouettes of the surrounding buildings.

Kakashi tensed up realizing that the shadows were hundreds of figures instead. Signaling to fall back, a loud clatter of metal sounded behind them before a loud explosion went off startling them all in surprise.

"Fuck," he gritted beneath his mask as they heard the building's outside walls creak with several running footsteps charging towards them. "_Run_."

Shrills of what sounded like nearly inhuman voices loudly echoed throughout the streets. The dark figures were revealed in the moonlight to truly be a thousand if not more of people who had been clearly infected by the virus. There were far too many of them to fight.

"Lose their line of sight," Shikamaru yelled as he dropped below from the roof. "Let's split up into two groups."

Without another word Shikamaru and Choji left in one direction as Kakashi and Sakura took another. Weaving between several buildings, they had jumped a broken fence and burst inside the back door of a house.

Closing the door, they both pressed their backs against it and tried to quiet their panting breathes. Shadows of figures rushed past the sheer curtains covering the windows, but thankfully none seemed to be aware that they were inside for the time being.

Sliding towards the floor after they heard a long silence, Kakashi wiped the sweat from his brow and shook his head as his heart began to stop racing. "It was a stupid idea to come here," he muttered. "This village is gone like Konoha."

"We still don't know what's going on with the Kazekage. Perhaps everyone in that section is trapped by the infected?"

"I'm not so sure," he replied, taking in a deep calming breath as he stood up once more. "Someone threw a grenade to have them chase us. They clearly don't want us or anyone else to be here."

"But why?" Sakura whispered. "Why wouldn't they want help?"

"I wish I knew," he softly replied, glancing across the darkened house. "Let's double check this place is clear. I'll go upstairs."

Sakura nodded as she pulled out her flashlight from her bag before making her way towards the kitchen first.

Kakashi stood for a moment trying to collect his thoughts as he searched for a small light in his pockets. He sincerely hoped Shikamaru and Choji made it to somewhere safe. He knew it was risky coming here. Part of him wanted to truly help, but the other part feared that they might be risking their lives for nothing. After seeing the devastation that fell over Konoha, they couldn't even save their own village. How could they possibly save others?

Glancing to the room Sakura had disappeared into, he didn't want to lose what few people he had left in his life. With a sigh, he quietly stepped towards the second floor and opened the first room to his left.

Reaching for his kunai as he stepped through the doorway, he felt a sharp pain before suddenly falling to his knees.

Everything went black.

_TBC_

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_*cue dramatic melancholy The Last of Us music as it cuts off into a black loading screen*_

[ **Author Note:** Will try and update soon, thanks for reading! *goes back into shadows* ]


	6. Day 5

**Day 5**

Darkness turned into a blurred dim light as Kakashi slowly stirred awake. As his eyes finally adjusted to his surroundings, he found himself staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. Shooting up in fear not knowing where he was, he immediately regretted the action as he felt a sharp throbbing pain to the side of his head.

"Fucking hell," he hoarsely whispered as he hunched over, carefully touching his fingertips to the roots of his silver hair. He felt a bandage wrapped around just above his ears. Clenching his eyes, he let out groan and another curse as another dull pain washed over him. The headache he felt was almost unbearable.

"Kakashi?" a hushed voice murmured beside him.

He carefully turned to find Sakura sitting up from a wooden rocking chair and came over to sit beside him on the bed he was on. Looking down at the colorful covers tucked around his waist, he realized the bed he was in was awfully small. The sheets barely covered his feet.

Glancing around the room, it clearly had belonged to a small child. Wooden toys were littered across the floor among other things such as clothes and fallen pictures. All of the dresser drawers had been opened in a hurry.

Sakura pulled his attention to her green eyes as she cupped his masked face. Pulling back part of his bandage to peek at his wound, she let out a relieved sigh. "You had me worried you weren't going to wake up soon," she admitted.

"…Sorry," he replied, averting his eyes as he tried to recall the last thing he remembered. "What… happened?"

"Turns out we weren't alone in the house."

Kakashi wore a puzzled expression until finally remembering what had happened just before he blacked out. "Are you are alright?"

Appreciating his concern, she nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm just fine."

Seeing a presence in the corner of his eye, Kakashi looked to find a young man kneeling timidly in the open doorway. "And… who is this?"

Pushing back his shaggy brown hair which fell over his eyes, he offered a deep apologetic bow. "My name is Kenta… a-and I am the one who attacked you," he stuttered. "I am so sorry Hatake-san, I didn't realize who you were until it was too late. You are one of the great leaders w-who helped fight in the alliance war. P-Please accept my apology."

"It's alright." Kakashi let out a sigh, rubbing the side of his aching head. "You sure do hit hard."

Offering another bow, he replied, "Again… I am so sorry. I thought you were one of them."

"The infected?"

Tears were beginning to form in Kenta's eyes at a sudden memory.

Sakura shook her head. "It's not just them, but… the shinobi here who are supposed to protect the village. Apparently they are killing people no matter if they are sick or not."

At a loss for words, Kakashi didn't want to believe it. "That can't be…"

"T-the Kazekage doesn't care," Kenta replied as his voice cracked. "I hid like a coward when I saw several Jounins kill my mother and father. M-my little sister. They _weren't _sick. I'm _not_ s-sick like those monsters out there. I ran and found others but we got separated when we were discovered. There are other villagers still here hiding inside their homes trying not to be found by them or the infected. We're trapped here. It's been like this for weeks now… a-and…" He glanced between Sakura and Kakashi. "I've been praying that Konoha would come aid us. It's why you've come, yes? The Hokage… she knows what's going on?"

"Tsunade… she... Our Hokage didn't make it," Sakura sadly replied. "We came here to find refuge and didn't know why the gates to the village were closed off to everyone. We were trying to find help and see if anyone else had come here… our village is gone."

Kenta appeared to be in shock. "Konohagakure is gone? So… no one's coming to help?"

There was a long silence. Kakashi sucked in a deep breath and sighed. "No, I'm sorry but as far as I know it's just us."

"B-but… So are you the new Hokage then? I heard you were taking the position next in Konoha. Is there nothing you can do? W-What about Naruto? He alone is more capable than-"

"-He's… he's also gone, I'm sorry. A lot of good people didn't make it when we were overrun with infected." Kakashi paused, taking in a solemn breath. "I can't claim to be the Hokage. There were talks in motion until all of this happened, but even if I was, we don't have anyone to turn to right now besides other villages. We're not even sure if how many people survived besides us."

"Then t-this is all hopeless," Kenta cried out as tears streamed down his cheeks. "We're all going to die here."

"No, we won't. We will try and help in whatever way we can," Sakura encouraged, glancing to Kakashi hoping he would do the same.

Kakashi sat still as he watched the young man cry with such despair. Averting Sakura's gaze, he wasn't sure if they truly could help. Kenta wasn't wrong. It did seem hopeless. They had no other shinobi. They had no village left to call home anymore. With an inward sigh, he clenched his hands. Yet despite after everything they've seen and been through so far, he knew he couldn't walk away from trying to help even if he wanted to. He couldn't call himself a shinobi if he didn't at least try to help these people in some way. Otherwise so many others were going to needlessly die.

"We'll do what we can and help you get out of here," Kakashi finally replied. "We need to try and regroup back at our camp and tell everyone outside what's going on. Hopefully Shikamaru and Choji will already be there. We can find some volunteers to help us find other survivors and lead them out of the village."

"Then let's do that," Sakura said with a soft smile. "We have to at least try."

Kenta wiped his tears with his sleeve and bowed. "T-thank you both. I mean it… thank you."

Making a motion to get up, Sakura quickly placed a hand on Kakashi's chest to stay in place. "It would be best if you rested a bit more," she said.

Kakashi knew she was right, but wanted to try and leave this place as soon as possible. Glancing to the covered window a few feet away, it was still dark outside, but now was the time to make their move before morning fell. Glancing to Sakura's concerned eyes, he placed his hand over hers and gave her palm a gentle squeeze. "I've had a lot worse before, I'll be alright."

Staring at their connected hands, Sakura's fingers beneath his shyly retracted as she fought back a blush. "F-Fine, but if you don't feel very well standing up you'll need to rest longer."

"Sure, that's fine."

Letting go of her hand, Sakura sat up from the bed and waited for him to stand up on his feet. Once he kicked backed the covers and slowly stood up, he took a moment as a wave of dizziness and nausea washed over him. When it passed, for now all he felt was the throbbing headache.

"I'm fine," Kakashi assured.

Sakura folded her arms with a sigh. "You don't look fine."

"I'll make it," he promised. "Let's move before morning comes."

With another sigh, she blew out the small flickering candle on a table beside the bed. "Let's go."

Kenta, Kakashi and Sakura soon left through the back door of the house, creaking it slowly open before proceeding forward. Finding only silence and faint sounds of the infected far in the distance, Sakura led them through alleyways and darkened shadows of empty houses towards the outer edge of the village where they had first entered.

Nearing the tall rocky wall, they were almost there before a whizzing sound approached them.

"Get down!" Sakura called out, pulling out a dagger to deflect a shrunken towards Kenta. Even more rained down on them before several shinobi surrounded them on the rooftops.

Everything went from bad to worse as they were suddenly overwhelmed with attacks. Kakashi called out for them to fall back as they ran towards the dark alleyways. The three of them ran until a couple of shinobi dropped down in front of them, forcing them to stop as they held swords to their necks.

"Don't move and no one will get hurt," one of the young masked men said. Another one mentioned their names at recognizing them, stating they would be worth better alive than dead.

Eyeing Sakura as the other shinobi from the rooftops descended around them, Kakashi held his breath as someone grabbed his hands behind his back and bound them. There seemed little choice but to go along with them for now.

The three of them were forced to hurry through the empty town, running towards the large Kazekage buildings. While Kakashi was glad they would finally get to see what was going on inside, he had only wished it was under better circumstances. At the very least he hoped they would finally get to speak with the Gaara and make some sense out of all this. He was their friend… and proved to be so time and time again. He would make things right.

As they entered inside the heavily guarded closed off compound, the smell of death washed over them as they walked past several pits of burned bodies. Forcing them to stop and kneel down in front of one of holes with charred remains, everyone glanced at each other in alarm of what was going on.

Kakashi began, "What are you-"

"-Don't speak," someone cut in, hitting the hilt of his sword against the back of his already throbbing head.

Biting the inside of his cheek trying to keep his mind off the sudden sharp pain, he watched as someone who looked like a medic-nin examined Kenta's eyes and face. After they shook their head and stepped back, he watched in horror as one of the guards slit his throat without warning, kicking his body forward to let it fall into the pit.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kakashi rasped, watching as the examiner searched Sakura's face next as her eyes began to form with tears, murmuring his name in increasing fear.

Trying to stand as terror shot through his veins, another strike against his body made him crumple back down to the ground in pain. He felt sick as he watched, feeling helpless to do anything if they tried to harm her. When the medic stepped back and nodded, he was relieved when they forced her to stand and escorted her away as she called out his name once more. In his mind it didn't matter what happened to him, long as she stayed alive.

Feeling his mask be torn down past his chin, the medic extensively examined his eyes and cheeks with a small flashlight. When it was done and a nod of approval was signaled to his guards, he was picked up and shoved to walk forward. Ushered inside a dark building, they descended down steps which opened up into a small prison. Thrown into a cell next to Sakura, he was glad to see that she was safe at least for now.

Waiting for their captors to leave, Sakura eyes were still filled with shock from what they had just witnessed. "Are you okay?" she whispered.

Picking himself up from the floor, he nodded.

"Your mask…"

He sighed, offering a weak smile. "It's alright. Now you know my little secret."

She smiled slightly, despite her tears.

It wasn't until they heard the shuffle of feet against the stone tiles from the cell on the other side of Sakura's that they realized they weren't alone.

"Sakura? Kakashi?" a weak voice sounded.

Emerging from a blanket, Temari was just as surprised to see them as they were of her as she looked past the cell's bars. She was pale, thin and bruised. Looking to the figure beside her on the floor, she wasn't alone.

"Temari… are you alright?" Sakura asked in concern, glancing to the man wrapped beneath several blankets beside her. Going to the rusted bars that separated them, she could barely make out his red hair and faint tattoo which was covered in dry blood. "Is that… Lord Gaara?"

"It is," Temari gravely replied as her voice wavered. "I don't know how much longer he's going to make it."

"Temari, what happened?" Kakashi softly asked.

Tears formed in her eyes as she shook her head, forcing herself to speak. "Gaara didn't want to take care of our people in the way that the council wanted. No one could come into an agreement. That night one of the councilmen threw a coup, killing everyone who was loyal to us and the rest of the council. He locked us away in here and appointed himself as the new Kazekage." She sucked in a shuddered breath. "There have been people who've wanted Gaara's position ever since he took it… and now they finally got the chance at the cost of putting the lives of everyone in the village in danger. Suna needs my brother now more than ever."

"I'm sorry," Sakura murmured to fill the silence, unsure what to say.

"Me too," Temari replied, sinking back down towards the floor near her brother.

Kakashi and Sakura glanced at each other, both unsure what they could do in their position to help.

Kneeling beside the bars that separated between her and Temari, Sakura suggested, "Can you bring him over here? I might be able to reach him. If I can help him, I want to try."

Kakashi watched as she twisted and fought to move her bound hands from the back to the front beneath her legs. After she managed to do so, she squeezed her hands between the bars and released a green glow from her fingertips against Gaara's head.

By the time she was done, the faint light of morning began to stretch from the high windows above them. The day had just begun, but felt like the beginning and the end of everything.

_TBC_

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[ **Author Note:** ~cue melancholy Last of Us guitar music~ I'm super glad to hear that some of yall who haven't played the game are digging the drabble rabbles. Thanks for reading and commenting! ]


	7. Day 6

**Day 6**

Kakashi struggled to keep his eyes open as he watched his feet helplessly drag against the stone tiled floor. Sunlight poured through opened rows of windows he slowly traveled past, shining the trail of blood that followed behind him before realizing that it was his own. After interrogating him for several hours earlier, two shinobi guards were holding him up by his limp arms as they moved him down a hallway. They had finally given up against his unyielding silence.

Aside from wanting promises of allegiance to their new self proclaimed Kazekage nicknamed Zu, they wanted any valuable Konoha secrets and information he could possibly offer knowing who he was. Breaking off any contact to the outside world after overthrowing Gaara several weeks ago, they didn't seem to realize the full extent of loss within Konohagakure or how far the virus has seemed to spread past their own borders as more refugees appeared outside the locked city's gates.

His tired eyes finally focused past his feet at noticing long shadow slowly creeping along the floor from behind, bringing a wry smile to his dry lips. The men suddenly both stopped in their tracks, dropping Kakashi to the floor as they reached for their throats.

Struggling to pick himself up, Choji appeared at his side and cut the tight rope that had bound his hands, looping one of his arms around his shoulder for support.

"About time," Kakashi hoarsely choked out.

Shikamaru soon appeared out of the shadow of the wall, increasing the strength of his shadow jutsu around the throats of the two guards. It wasn't long before their bodies were lifelessly dropped to the ground. "Do you realize how surrounded and huge this place is?"

"Cakewalk," he jested with a cough.

The shadow user sighed before stepping over the two men on the floor. "I wish. We were-"

At hearing voices and footsteps approaching down the hallway, Shikamaru quickly helped Choji usher Kakashi into one of the open rooms just a few feet away. The inside revealed to be an abandoned office. Placing him down on the floor against a wall, Kakashi watched as they rushed back out to greet whoever was coming.

Gritting his teeth wishing he could help, he knew he was in no condition to fight right now as much as he wanted to. Every part of his body felt like it was on fire and his eyes felt so heavy. He was hanging on by a thread. Shakily bringing one of hands to the side of his face, he pulled back his fingers to find them brightly stained with red.

Clashes of weapons erupted outside the door, hearing a short struggle before everything fell silent again. When the door opened once more, Shikamaru and Choji entered dragging two bodies in hand.

"Listen," Kakashi began. "Just leave me here for now. You need to go get everyone out of here right away before they know you're here."

"We can't just leave you," Choji spoke up. "There might be more patrols coming through."

"Gaara, Tamari and Sakura were last downstairs in this building when I saw them. Make sure they get out. It's not that far from here. I'll be okay, I can wait. They can't."

The furrow between Shikamaru's brows increased after hearing those names. Wiping the sweat away from his brown eyes, he let out a troublesome sigh. "Alright, we'll be quick." Glancing to the door he added, "We can lock the door if someone does come before we get back. Just take it easy."

"Go," Kakashi rasped, seeing the young men glance a silent worried at the older Jounin. "_Right now_."

Once they left, he clenched his eyes before resting the back of his aching head against the cool sandstone wall. Gaara was important for a lot of reasons aside being the rightful Kazekage. He brought about the same kind of hope Naruto once did. The shinobi alliance had proved that much. He was young, but was capable of uniting people. People needed that more than ever right now against this outbreak they knew nothing about. Losing another great leader from the one of the great nations would be too much to bear once everyone learned Naruto's fate.

But most of all, he selfishly wanted to make sure Sakura was alright more than anyone else. She needed to survive this. He just wished he could have done more instead of sitting here needing to be saved. He should have done more. It was his fault they were trapped here. Why did he always fail in protecting the people he cared about?

His eyes snapped awake at hearing the doorknob loudly turn a couple times after failing to open. An unknown voice asked if someone was inside before pounding on the door. Tensing as his heart began to race before the door was roughly jolted, he quietly felt around his back pouch remembering they had tossed away all his weapons earlier after pulling him out of the cell.

Glancing to the slumped bodies of the dead shinobi across from him, he dragged himself towards them before collapsing against one of the men as the door burst open from a kick. Holding his breath while trying to force himself to relax as if he had died along with them, a couple of men cursed at the scene.

"What the hell happened here? Isn't that one of the prisoners?" a man asked. "Check them. You, go get backup right away and let the Kazekage know. We need to find out who did this."

"Yes sir."

Feeling with his fingertips for anything he could use as a weapon without being noticed, he stopped once he sensed someone standing over him. Feeling his heart hammer against his chest, two fingers soon checked his raising pulse along his neck.

"He's-"

Immediately throwing a kunai his fingers managed to hook at the last second, the man sputtered blood as it lodged through the bottom of his mouth before falling over.

"The fuck!" the other shinobi shouted and jumped back in surprise, throwing a couple of shuriken towards Kakashi.

Using the body that had just fallen against him as a shield, he pulled back out the kunai from the man's skull to block another flying set of shuriken towards his head. One painfully nicked his hand, spilling fresh blood along down his wrist and arm. The man charged as he unsheathed his sword at his hip before making a large strike.

Throwing the man's body with all his might to stagger back his opponent, Kakashi tried to get up on his feet but fell to his knees as a sudden darkness washed over his vision. The man scoffed at seeing this, lowering his blade before kicking the silver-haired Jounin back down towards the floor.

Glancing to his slain friend, the sand shinobi muttered, "Asshole."

Blood spilled from Kakashi's mouth as the man struck again. Clenching against the kunai within his hand as he was being pulled up by the base of his shirt, he thrust it forward with what little strength he had left towards the man's neck. The shinobi laughed as he stopped him with his own kunai before pushing the blade back with a greater force.

Struggling to keep the kunai back, the tip finally neared Kakashi's throat and began to cut across his skin before he suddenly heard a loud crack and a slam before he realized what had happened.

"K-Kakashi," Sakura choked out, pulling him into her arms as he collapsed against her.

Glancing over her shoulder as she held him up, there was a big hole in wall that went clear into the next room. What was left of the shinobi that had nearly killed him a second ago wasn't a pretty sight. He would have laughed in relief if it didn't already hurt so much to move.

"…Sakura," he whispered.

"Don't talk, save your strength," she softly replied back, gently placing him against the floor before emitting a green glow from her fingertips. Pushing back his matted bangs as she tried to heal what she could, she was trying really hard not to cry but was failing. "You'll be okay, you'll be okay," she murmured.

He wasn't sure if she was just saying it for his sake or her own, but he was starting to worry as he felt a familiar sensation tug from within. His chakra was drained and the color around his face was fading.

"Stay with me," her voice cracked. "K-Kakashi…"

It was only when he didn't feel anything anymore that he knew what was happening as everything began to disappear around him into darkness. There was no turning back this time.

_TBC_

* * *

**[ Author Note:**_ *insert highly dramatic stringy guitar Last of Us music*_

Ahhhhh. And yes I know I'm cruel. I blame moodiful819 for destroying me with a certain sad fic called Tabula Rasa. **]**


	8. Day 17

**Day 17**

Shielding her green eyes as a gust of wind lifted the sand around her, Sakura glanced back towards the rising dawn that began to peek beyond the horizon. Somehow she managed to see another day. Taking in a deep breath, she let out a solemn sigh. She wished others would have been just as lucky.

Feeling the warmth of the sun against her back as she walked forward approaching several large boulders, she finally stopped once she saw the growing row of wooden crosses at the base of the rocks. She wondered if there would ever be a day when the loss didn't hurt.

Kneeling before the graves, she placed her hands together and murmured a silent prayer after closing her eyes. Feeling tears begin to well up inside, she swallowed the forming lump in her throat before placing her hands at her lips to fight back a sudden sob. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks as she finally let herself grieve for the first time after everything that had happened so far. She had been trying so hard to keep herself together as each day passed. She was a medic and knew she couldn't save every life, but she felt like such an utter failure. People were dying everyday and she felt helpless in trying to stop it. What good was she when she couldn't save people?

When her tears finally stopped, she took in a deep breath to recollect herself and wiped her eyes. Retying the bandana in her hair to keep the wind at bay from her face, she sat up and walked back towards the campgrounds. Forcing a smile to her lips as she passed by people who called out her name in greeting, she was steadily becoming familiar with most of families and shinobi outside the Sand Village's gates.

After being rescued from within the closed off village, she had managed to make it back outside the walls along with the other survivors. Word spread like wildfire what had happened to Gaara which sparked unrest within the refugees. One of the guards at the gates had been killed before the others retreated back inside, sealing the doors shut behind them for good. For now, several shinobi were stationed along the walls which slowly increased in numbers each day. All they did was watch their growing camps below, but knew it would be a matter of time before they would make a move, and right now, time wasn't on their side.

Making her way towards the makeshift medic tent, she nodded to the volunteered guards as she stepped inside. Several women and a few young men were already preparing for the morning. Glancing over several patients she passed lying in bedrolls or other bedding made up of what they could find, worry still tugged at her heart even if she just checked on everyone just half an hour ago.

Refugees still continued to show up in search of aid from the Sand Village, only to find the gates closed. Some were wounded and others were on the brink of starvation, but everyone began to pitch in helping one way or another. Shikamaru stepped up as a leader, helping divide resources among the camps and help plan and organize volunteers.

Opening the flap into a private section of the tent, Sakura wryly smiled as Temari sat up from the edge of the cot from her brother's side.

"Morning," the blonde tiredly greeted.

"You should really get some sleep, Temari," Sakura replied with a knowing sigh. Not that she talk much managing only a few hours herself each day, but her health was just as important as her brother's.

"I agree," Gaara whispered.

"I can't rest knowing they can come at any time," his sister mumbled.

"And it won't do us much good if you aren't awake or well enough to help fight," Sakura added. "Go get some sleep, medic's orders."

Temari sighed, grumbling a bit under her breath knowing that she should. "Alright, since you're here I will just for a little bit."

Holding open the flap for her to exit, Sakura watched Temari leave before walking towards a small box set aside filled with fresh bandages. After finding what she needed, she grabbed a fresh pitcher of water and poured some into a small bowl.

Already knowing what she needed to do, Gaara slowly sat up from his bed, letting the sheet fall from his chest revealing the bulk of his wrapped bandages. Sakura sat at his side, effortlessly unraveling the old bandages before checking his wounds with a green glow of her hand.

After she carefully checked the wounds along the side of his temple, he impatiently asked, "How much longer?"

"It's hard to know for sure, but your chakra levels have improved a lot over the last couple of days. I know you're still in a lot of pain though."

"It's manageable."

"That may be so, but it's easy to overexert yourself before you're ready."

"I don't have the luxury of waiting," he snapped, immediately regretting his tone. "Sorry, it's just…" He let out a long sigh. "It's frustrating being here when I want to help."

Wrapping up the finishing touches of his new bandages, she shook her head with a shrug. "I know and its okay."

"You've helped save my life more than once. I owe… not just you, but everyone who's gone above and beyond to help us. I owe Konoha a lot."

Hearing someone suddenly outside ask if it was alright if he entered the tent, Shikamaru peeled back the flap before offering them both a tired good morning followed by a long yawn.

Sakura chuckled slightly at the fact he never failed to yawn in greeting each morning, not that she could really blame him. Everyone has been pushing themselves to the limit.

"Sorry," Shikamaru mumbled, fighting back another yawn immediately after. "We've found out some new intel of their movements inside since last night. The shinobi's numbers at the tower has dwindled down considerably, but Zu's forces have been slowly moving into an offensive position along the walls. I have a feeling they aren't going to sit idly by much longer as more people come."

"Neither will we," Gaara replied.

Sitting up from the bed, Sakura bit her lip in worry before grabbing the old bandages to discard. At listening to their discussion, it seems that they would likely have to prepare for a possible incoming attack. No one was really sure if the volunteers they have found so far would be enough to protect everyone who can't fight. There were many women, children, sick, elderly… and majority were just simple villagers who had never fought for their lives before.

After washing up, Sakura walked through busy medic tent before pausing in front of another private section she knew well. Her heart felt heavy as her fingertips brushed against the flap to open. It didn't seem to matter what she did or said. The pain she felt at almost losing him was still raw despite it happening nearly a week ago. She had always known that she cared for him, but she didn't realize just how much until nearly watching him die in her arms. Seeing him everyday only reminded her at the fact he was nearly gone… and it just…

She let out a sigh, mustering up a warm smile before entering inside. Her expression faded once she found that he was still asleep. Her eyes trailed from the deep purple shades of bruises along his face and down to his dry parted lips. In all of her silly fancies starting when she was a Genin, she never thought she would see his face exposed like this…. while beaten and bruised.

Looking back towards his eyes which were closed just a moment ago, she inwardly jumped from being caught staring at him.

"It could be worse," Kakashi murmured with light humor in his voice.

"You could be dead," she lowly replied.

"See?"

Letting out a sigh, she slowly stepped forward before taking a seat at the foot of his bed. "It's not funny."

His eyes softened. "I know I'm lucky that you were there, Sakura. I don't know how I manage to keep cheating death, but here I am." He let out a sigh. "I don't deserve it."

"Yes you do."

"Not a second time."

Puzzled, she asked, "What do you mean?"

"A lot of people died during Pein's attack before being saved by Nagato. I was one them, Sakura… You already knew, didn't you?"

Trying to push past her disbelief, the words strangely stung deep within. Where was she at that time? Why didn't she know until now? She had no idea that he had died that day and… she had done nothing to stop it.

Pressing her lips together to hide her emotions, she immediately sat up from the bed. "I need to get a few things before your checkup, I'll be back in a bit."

She couldn't leave fast enough as she slipped towards the edge of tent before finding herself outside into the morning's light. Repeating over and over in her mind to keep herself together as she passed by various people trying to wish her a good morning, she held her breath before she finally made it into her small private tent.

As soon as she fell to her knees, she reprimanded herself as she felt a wave of tears begin to stream down her cheeks. She had already cried today and yet here she was again. As her breaths began to steady as the moment passed, she wiped her eyes before lying down.

She had become so terrified of losing him that she actually did and never knew it. It felt like a punch in the gut to know it and the fact that he really could be here one day, and then gone the next. She knew it was true for anyone, but… Kakashi was the only constant person in her life ever since she was first assigned to Team Seven. She had grown to rely on him to always be there. There had always been close calls throughout the years, but he always came back. He always survived, but just like everyone else he wasn't invincible.

What if she couldn't save him again? What if he was hurt somewhere and she never knew it? Losing one of the last few friends she had left in his world… the thought was always there in the back of her mind, but it seemed more real than ever before. Everything just felt like it was completely out of her control and it scared her. She wanted to not just save people, but to always save him as well. She always knew the risks of becoming a shinobi, but this kind of reality was far different. It felt more unforgiving.

After feeling a little better, Sakura wiped her face with what little water she could spare from her own private canteen before emerging from the tent. A smile was at her lips again as she passed by several people who greeted her across the campgrounds before making it back into the medical tent. After gathering a few supplies, she went back inside Kakashi's section.

His eyes fell to hers as she entered, causing her feel an internal embarrassment of why she fled. Hoping that he wouldn't ask about her claim of needing to get medical supplies or why she took so long, she was relieved for now as he remained silent.

She could feel him watching her though as she began mixing into a small bowl of a special type of ointment for part of his injuries. When she was ready, he slowly set up and moved the sheet back so that she could access his current bandages wrapped mainly around his back and chest.

Her fingers delicately unraveled his bandages to reveal several large bruises and healing gashes across his skin. Placing the ointment against some of the more serious cuts along his back, he never complained although she knew it must have hurt.

"How are you feeling?" she finally broke the silence between them.

"I'm okay," he simply replied.

It was his usual answer and every time he said it was harder to believe it with each passing day. She wished he could openly talk to her about whatever was on his mind. Then again, it's not like she had ever shared her own worries of everything that's been going on around them, but then why should he know that she lost another patient yesterday? It wasn't the kind of thing she wanted to talk about.

"How are you holding up?" he softly asked.

"I'm good," she replied, smiling as best she could. "Just… you know, taking it one day at a time. Gaara's looking a lot better."

"I'm glad."

After redressing his bandages, she eased her hand gently into his while supporting his shoulders to help him lay back down on his pillow. He grimaced as he let out a low breath once he readjusted to the pressure against his still tender wounds. Moving his hand from hers, he curiously looked to her when she didn't immediately let go.

Holding his hand, Sakura gave a soft reassuring squeeze before averting her green eyes towards the floor. She bit her bottom lip looking like she wanted to say something, but remained quiet before abruptly letting go.

Kakashi watched her leave as she explained she needed to check up on other patients and that she would be back later. Lowering his eyes to his hand that she had touched, he formed a small fist still feeling her fingers that had warmly covered his.

She looked so drained every time he saw her, and yet she always smiled as if nothing was wrong. He hated it. He didn't know how to go about asking her what was really going on, but he had an idea. The sheets partitioned throughout the medical tent hardly prevented most whispers if it was nearby.

He knew someone else had died last night. He could tell Sakura was taking it hard despite her brave face during these past few days. Everyone was trying their best no matter how dire the situation was becoming with each passing day. Kakashi let out a sigh, looking towards his bruised skin. He truly didn't deserve another chance at life. While part of him was glad to be alive, the other part of him simply felt guilty. How was it that so many good people died and yet he still remained? It was hard enough witnessing more of his friends die from Konaha. It just never failed how he was left behind.

Taking in a deep breath, he finally closed his eyes to rest. Throughout the entire day he drifted in and out of sleep, waking up long enough to be checked on or encouraged to eat by Sakura since he didn't have much of an appetite lately. When night fell, he found himself stirred awake by a small gust of wind which fluttered the fabric of tent around him. Moonlight seeped through the cracks, illuminating his small room only slightly.

Closing his eyes in hopes to fall back asleep, he began to hear a strange faint sound just behind the bed. Tilting his head against the pillow to listen better, he realized what he was listening to was the sound of fabric being cut.

Someone was trying to get inside the tent.

Realizing he didn't have any of his weapons, his heart began to pound inside his chest when the sound stopped. Glancing to the far wall, a low shadow flashed against the small speck of moonlight that slipped through inside. With no time to move, Kakashi closed his eyes just enough so he could still somewhat see from the corner of his eye.

Feeling a figure hovering at his side, he held his breath and tried to remain as still as possible in what felt like the longest few seconds of his life. Through the squint of his eye he could make out it was a masked shinobi before watching them silently move towards the foot of the bed.

The shinobi peeked through the entrance into the main medical tent before slipping past the curtains.

'_Shit_, _Gaara.' _

Kakashi shot up from the bed as soon as he began to hear fighting, cursing at the immediate pain from doing so as he clenched his sides. He was certain there were guards outside of Gaara's room, but would they be skilled enough to combat an assassin? Either way, he couldn't sit idly by and do nothing so as long as he still carried a breath within him.

Grimacing as he moved out of his bed, he went to the curtain and pulled it back to find Sakura picking herself up from the floor while trying to catch her breath. Two shinobi lied motionless at her feet. The other one must had slipped in from the other side. Seeing that she was more than alright, his heart finally eased.

When his eyes caught hers, she said, "Kakashi-"

Her words were cut short as a bell sounded off in the distance. She glanced back before running outside the medical tent to see the situation. Shouts of people and fighting began to sound in the distance.

The heartbroken look on her face nearly said it all when she turned back to face him.

"Sakura, what do you need? What can I do?" Kakashi asked.

"I…" Fighting back her emotions, she glanced around at some of the patients who had gotten up out of their beds and stared back at them in growing fear.

"We need to evacuate as many people as possible, but… Kakashi you aren't-"

"I'm going to help," he firmly stated. "I'll be okay."

Reluctantly nodding, she took in a breath and added, "We moved Gaara when night fell to another area. He should be okay for the time being as long as he doesn't do anything rash, but we need to move everyone."

"Let's do it then."

Wearing only his old Jounin pants, he rushed back inside his temporary room and pulled on his shoes and the pouch that had his gear on the floor. Finding his old blue shirt nearly folded beside his things, he traced his fingertip along the newly mended stitches before throwing it on. Pulling back his fallen hair against his eyes with his headband, he stepped through the cut of his tent to see what was going on outside.

Fires were beginning to spread from tent to tent as refugees, mostly women and children were running for their lives with the help of those who stayed back to protect them. Shinobi began slide down of the rocky hills that surrounded the village. He had no doubt they were looking for Gaara, but were going out of their way to destroy the camp as well, including anyone else that stood in their way.

As he rushed back inside, Sakura had already directed those who could still walk well enough out the back of the tent. "I'll have to help carry some people, Kakashi. Make sure they make it over the dunes towards the south."

"Got it."

Stepping out into the moonlight from the medical tent, he helped quickly lead those already outside towards the south while scouting for any enemies. Finding no opposition as the reached the other side of the hills, they joined another group that was already there waiting in safety. He was relieved to find that every part of the camp seemed to have a certain evacuation area.

Kakashi knelt down low in the sand after Sakura finally made it across the other side of the dune with the others. Looking towards the distance, he noticed how the attacking shinobi under Zu's command began to scatter after they had finished setting fires across the entire camp.

The large gates that had sealed the village shut began to loudly groan open. Gasps and cries sounded they all watched thousands of infected begin to pour out and into what was left of the refugee camp. Those who had stayed behind to fight began to run, but were quickly overwhelmed. Some of the infected started to chase those who fled, leading them towards the dunes.

"T-They are coming this way," a terrified voice cried out as panic began to spread. People began to run away in fear.

"We need to stay together!" Sakura yelled. "If we have any hope of defending ourselves, we have a better chance together than alone!"

Kakashi verbally agreed, encouraging everyone to stay back to back and grab whatever they can to help protect each other. There was no place to hide in a desert and could be easily outrunned. If they had any chance to survive, they need to try and defend themselves right here and now.

Those who could perform jutsus and were experienced fighters were called to the front. There were only three other shinobi along with them.

Glancing to Sakura, she gave him a nod like she had so many times before when they were about to execute a mission. When he returned the gesture, she tried her best to give him that same smile that everything would be alright.

He wished that he could believe it.

_TBC_

* * *

**[ Author Note:** *_insert dramatic Last of Us cinematic cut scene*_ Yep, I'm starting to do time skipping which I plan to do here and there.

I'm actually traveling tomorrow to visit a friend for all of next week. And guess what I'm forcing her to play? Yesss. The Last of Us. (I gave it to her but she got stuck and never finished) Unacceptable, I know.

It's crazy it's August already, but until next update! **]**


	9. Day 18

**Day 18**

The rising flames of the camp began to burn brightly against the pale moonlight that glittered in the sand. Silhouettes of infected soon poured over the dunes towards their location. Clenching the weapon in his hand, Kakashi and Sakura along with the remaining three shinobi in their group kept their defensive circle around the refugees as they braced for the first attack.

"Keep together!" Kakashi cried out. "Don't let your guard down!"

Fear could be felt in the air as some refugees prayed and others cried in panic from watching the chaos unfold around them. Bloodcurdling screams of people fighting for their lives echoed all around them hidden out of their sight behind sand dunes, only to be cut abruptly into silence seconds later. It was horrifying to listen to.

Infected began to stumble down the sand covered hills one by one at first, making it easy to defend from each side of their group. A few infected that had been struck to the ground were beginning to crawl towards them once more.

"Strike their heads!" Sakura yelled to their group, demonstrating this as she crushed a few infected with her incredible chakra strength. "Else they will keep reviving."

Despite the increase of infected that was swarming around them, they were managing as everyone worked together. The small glimmer of hope they were going to survive this quickly vanished as one of the shinobi at Kakashi's side suddenly screamed when he faltered in his step with his attack. Without warning, the man's arms were violently torn apart as he was overwhelmed. Several refugees screamed as infected breached towards their circle.

There wasn't any time to think as Kakashi pushed the dying shinobi forward into the swarm of infected to slow them down as his fingers quickly formed seals. His eyes caught the suffering man shift from pain, to terror and disbelief in those few seconds before he violently died. Guilt hit Kakashi like a ton of bricks as he slammed his palms towards the sand, forming high walls out of the Earth around their group to push back the rest of the infected, but stopped short as he collapsed from his dangerously low limit of charka.

"Kakashi!" Sakura shouted as she tried to reach him, suddenly falling forward as the sand beneath their feet began to lift.

Confusion swept over the group until they realized how they were moving towards the star filled sky above them. High above the burning camp was a lone man hovering on a cloud of sand with an outreached hand.

"It's Lord Gaara!"

Other people scattered across the desert were being picked up in the same manner. Gaara stretched his sand manipulating power as far and wide as he could, bringing people together in a safe area. He placed everyone down at the same time before forming large wall of sand, darkening the moon from above in its size before raining across the camp to smother out the flames. Multiple large sand sculpted hands grew out of the ground next, grabbing mass amounts of infected before being violently crushed with a clenched fist.

Glancing back to Kakashi's slumped form, Sakura pushed herself past people to reach his side. Gently moving him to lie on his back, he let out muffled curse. Her hands stilled when she found fresh blood through his shirt.

"K-Kakashi?" she worriedly whispered, quickly lifting up the fabric to find the source. Unsure if he had been bitten, she began to panic.

"I think I reopened something," he grimaced, struggling against the sharp pain as he tried to sit up.

"Don't move," she commanded, holding him back down. A green glow illuminated from her hands as she desperately worked to mend all that she could. She had no doubt he was in a lot of pain from over exerting himself through his injuries. Feeling his racing heart begin to steady beneath her palms, Sakura let out a small sigh of relief.

"They are attacking!" someone yelled.

Snapping her green eyes back towards the camp, Zu's men were jumping over the walls that surrounded the village and were rushing towards Gaara. The young Kazekage had to be nearing his own limit which they were no doubt counting on, however several small teams of shinobi including Shikamaru, Temari and Choji were already meeting the incoming attackers halfway for a final push.

"Go help," Kakashi encouraged, sensing her hesitation when she looked back down at him. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise?"

"Promise," he reaffirmed. "Besides, aren't you tired of looking after this old man yet?"

Sakura smiled slightly. "Not really."

After a moment, she finally tore herself away before making sure one last time that he would be alright. Watching her leave where he laid, Kakashi let the breath he was holding go as he stared up at the moon above. His consciousness was beginning to fade again. He hated feeling so damn helpless like this. It seemed like all he was capable of doing lately was just getting hurt and being a burden. Part of him really didn't want her to leave, but knew how selfish it was just because he wanted to keep her out of harm's way. They were shinobi. This is what they had to do. He knew she was more than capable and Gaara needed all the help he could get right now to take back the village. If they didn't win, there would be no hope left for anyone.

* * *

Stirred awake from the bright sunlight that poured through a tall window, Kakashi found himself inside a large bedroom. Recognizing the ornate carved sanded architecture around him, he realized this must be the Kazekage's palace.

Feeling groggy, he couldn't remember how he had gotten here as he noticed a hand across his chest. Slowly looking to his right, he found Sakura curled into a ball beside him. Her shoes were still on as she hanged her feet off the side of the bed. Her breathing was slow and steady until she took in a deep calming breath, tugging her pink hair slightly as it spilled across the pillow she had snuggled against.

Staring at her sleeping face, she seemed almost peaceful despite some bruising and cuts that had formed across her arms and cheek. Shifting his gaze to the small unfamiliar weight of her hand against him, he observed her small curled fingers that had been hastily wrapped with gauze. Moving his hand from beneath the blanket that he was neatly tucked under, he gently reached for her hand in an attempt to move her back, but paused as his fingers touched hers. He never really realized just how small her hands were and seemed almost delicate in comparison. Yet appearances were certainly deceiving, knowing exactly how deadly even one of her fingertips could be.

Not used to having anyone this close, Kakashi felt a little uneasy the longer he remained still with her hand in his and her body slightly pressed against him. Slowly lowering her hand along her side, he really didn't mind, but part of him felt afraid to let himself enjoy her company in this way. He had to admit it felt nice and felt strangely right in a lot of ways, but the last thing he needed was to complicate his feelings more than they already were between them. These past couple weeks have been a whirlwind, and he wasn't thinking clearly right now. He's lost so many friends, and he didn't need to lose another. He wasn't going to allow himself to make the same mistakes again, especially with someone who he had mentored all these years.

Sensing she was starting to wake up when she let out loud sleepy sigh, he quickly closed his eyes to pretend to still be asleep. Feeling the sheets shift as she stretched, she cursed once she realized the time and quietly slipped out of the bed. When her footsteps faded into another room, he slowly opened his eyes once more. Hearing running water for a moment, she came back in the room and stopped in her tracks when she saw him awake.

"Sorry if I woke you up, are you feeling alright?" Sakura asked.

"I'm okay," he hoarsely whispered, realizing how dry his throat was.

"You don't sound okay," she replied. "Let me get you some water."

Spinning around, she went back towards what he assumed was the bathroom. She emerged once more with a glass of water and went to his side of the bed.

Slowly sitting up so that his back leaned against his pillow, he murmured he was feeling well enough to hold it and took the water from her hands. Pulling his mask down slightly, he took several large gulps before returning the empty glass. Clearing his throat, he said, "Thanks, Sakura."

"Would you like some more? Can I get you something to eat?"

He shook his head. The thought of eating made him feel nauseous. "No thank you, I'm okay right now. How long have I been out?"

"A little more than half a day."

He sighed. He was tired of being injured and yet once again, his memory struggled trying to remember. "What happened last night?"

With a triumph grin, she replied, "We kicked Zu's ass and we were able to take back the village. We've been working to repair the palace and surrounding buildings right now to make room for everyone. Thankfully there are a lot of survivors to help. The medical wing is pretty full right now, but I figured you wouldn't mind staying here."

He definitely hated staying in hospitals and anything remotely like them. "Much appreciated."

She smiled. "I had fun carrying you bridal style up here."

His face deadpanned. "Wait, you what?"

"Well, how am I supposed to carry you?" she asked with a quirked brow.

"Like a sack of potatoes."

"And risk harming your injuries more?"

He narrowed his eyes. "_Yes_."

With a sigh, she grinned. "You'll just have to get over the fact that a girl carried you bridal style."

"No," he jokingly replied. "I refuse."

"Okay," she replied with a laugh before her smile faded once more. "I better get back to work. I meant to just take a short nap and ended up sleeping a bit longer than I wanted. I'll be back in a bit with some food though. You really need to eat something."

Kakashi nodded, holding back his protest for food knowing she was right. Watching her leave the room, he found himself with his own thoughts again. It was nice to see her smile again, if only for a brief moment. He could only imagine what it looked like out there compared to his quiet room. Knowing her, she was going to push herself hard trying to help in every way that she can. The least he could do was to finally get back on his feet again and help as well.

With a short sigh, he lowered himself slowly against the bed once more. Closing his eyes to try and get more sleep, he didn't know what their future held, but with Konoha in ruins this was likely going to be their home for a long while. All he could do was hope it lasts.

_TBC_

* * *

_*Strumming TLOU guitar music intensifies*_

[ Author Note: So, I obviously fell off the writing wagon for awhile. Like a year. Yikes. Visited my friend from AZ (who I indeed forced to play TLOU until ending, muhaha) then wedding planning and getting married consumed my life followed by _'I hate everything I write rut / let's burn it all in a fire and dance around it'.  
_  
But, here I am. I'm trying my best to toss up some of the last things I last written and try to carry on. Thanks for putting up with my terrible writing and terrible long awaited updates.

Until next update~ ]


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